Video: Don’t make us into France, Mr. President

posted at 1:36 pm on April 30, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

I’ve featured videos from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity on several occasions, instructing viewers on the ins and outs of economic policy, usually hosted by Dan Mitchell. Now the CFP has joined forces with Reason TV to publish this cri de coeur from fiscal conservatives and libertarians:

The estimable Veronique de Rugy narrates this warning about the perils of socialism and nationalization. Ironically, Barack Obama and the Democrats have started becoming French at the exact same time as the French have started becoming more American in economics … or at least more British. De Rugy explains why, as the decades of state-controlled economics have stripped France of its competitive position, and Paris has just begun to wake up from 1968.

Even more ironically, Dan sent me this video from France, where he’s traveling on business. If the trendlines continue, Dan may wind up spending more time there than here.

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The Barry O. administration will win this battle hands down and if they can get’er done by 2010 we’re gonna be socialists. Because conservatives are instinctively and overwhelmingly honest and always assume integrity while this administration is a collection of backstabbing, corrupt and ‘say one thing and do another’ ragtag, political hacks. In politics the morally corrupt and dishonest always win as long as they can stay out of jail. That’s how/why we’re in the situation we’re in. Congress has brought us to this point and the American people are so stupid we’ve put the guilty in charge of reform.

The beaches are worth the visit. Utah, Omaha, and Point du Hoc are all pretty close. The Colleville Cemetary really makes an impact. There are a lot of outstanding museums, too. When I was there, we followed the path (by car) of the infantry through the hedgerows into St. Lo. It took us a few hours, it took them a few months.

St. Mere Eglise is also a great site. When I was there, I had the chance to talk with an 82nd Abn Veteran. Some locals invited him over every year and gave him free room and board. He’s probably passed on, but I’m quite certain the people in those regions still remember the sacrifice made for them. Their parents and grand parents make sure they do.

There are tons of cultural sites.

One other thing: if you rent a car in Paris, don’t be offended if a few folks honk at you in Normandy. Plenty of French don’t like the Parisians and tend to let them know that when they see one of their license plates.

I’ll take Sarkozy over Ogabe any day. And while Sarkozy may be a bit too lefty for my tastes, he has two things going for him: 1) he was unafraid to call the Muslim scum burning cars and raping women in the banlieues “filth” which really pi$$ed off the effete lefties and 2) his wife is reallllly hot (and doesn’t look anything like a Star Trek character).

I just returned from a business trip to Paris. They really do view Obama as president of more than just America.

Here’s a photo of a scrolling bilboard you could see all around the city.

Translation:
The Hyper President
(the real one)

Hi successes, his failures: report on first 100 days

The “real one” parenthetical is a snipe at Sarkozy. At first most of France believed he would be the hyper president (aka leader of the free world, not just France)… but he has fallen out of favor quite swiftly.

PS: For those who have never been to Paris here’s a small set of photos I took on my only free day there.larmes au-dessus de Paris (tears over Paris)

Obama wants us to be like France, while France wants to be more like us.

I lived in France from 1984 to 1995, during 11 of the 14 years of Mitterrand’s Socialism. Mitterrand nationalized many banks, the Renault and Peugeot car companies, the Pechiney and Rhone-Poulenc chemical companies, and many others, and unemployment was over 10% throughout most of the 14 years, people who had jobs paid 30%+ of their income for nationalized “social programs” (unemployment insurance, national pensions, medical insurance), PLUS income taxes, PLUS an 18.6% national sales tax.

Sure, you get five weeks’ paid vacation, but try to find a job over there! Bums on the street get handouts, unemployed people get full benefits for two years, but working people can’t afford to buy houses, and most highly-educated young Frenchmen set up new businesses…in England.

In 1994, the French Government mandated 35 hours a week maximum for lower-income workers, paid 39 hours. This was supposed to create new jobs, except it’s very rare to find 9 employees doing exactly the same work, so that a 10th employee can substitute for any of them. Result: less work gets done for the same pay, and higher-paid “cadres” pick up the slack, working 60 hours a week and getting paid 39. Merci beaucoup.

Government employees have the right to strike, and a bus or train strike can cripple the country, with Parisians commuting to work on roller-skates in the middle of winter. You can’t eat at McDonald’s because crazies are protesting hormone-fed beef, and subsidized farmers dump manure in front of town halls.

Ever wonder why the French make such great perfume? Well, maybe because French women can’t afford the height of French fashion, and wear the same two old dresses all week, and the perfume masks less agreeable odors. Go to a French mall, and you’ll find lots of expensive French clothing stores with the salesgirls bored to tears waiting for a customer, then go to a C&A (a British brand) selling clothes for half the price, and you can’t find a salesgirl, because they’re too busy!

Some of those banks, as well as Rhone-Poulenc, Pechiney, and Peugeot, were re-privatized under Chirac, and Sarkozy could become the French Ronald Reagan if he has “les couilles” (cojones in French) to stand up to the unions, who run the country.

Does Baraque Eau-bama want us to be like France?
Non, merci. Even Sarkozy doesn’t want France to be like France. Been there, done that.

Thanks for the tips if you’re still reading this. I can’t drive anymore (bad eyes) but I’ll be river cruising with Trafalgar. Hopefully we’ll hit all the places you recommended. I only wish I could talk my dad into taking this trip with me, but he’s 83 and doesn’t think he’s healthy enough, but he’s paying my way. I’m also taking another river cruise from Amsterdam to Prague while I’m over there.